Weekend Workroom: Simple wall art

For a long while, we've still been trying to figure out how to fill those empty walls we tend to find throughout our home. We're getting there, but it has been a slow process because we haven't wanted to put things up just because we have them. We wanted to put things up that were meaningful or actually might qualify as grown-up art.

And, yes, I know grown-ups rarely refer to themselves as "grown-ups."

I came across this project, however, and figured that if it worked it could be a really awesome way to make our own "art" pieces for both our bedroom and for the living room (which, aside from the Christmas season when stockings are hung on the wall, can be pretty barren). If it didn't work, I realized I wouldn't be out a ton of money and I would have at least spent an afternoon trying something new.

A quote Christopher has really come to love lately (that I'm trying to work into my own heart and mentality, as well) is from G. K. Chesterton: "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly."

So, I set out to try this project. I bought most of my supplies at Michael's, but I shift my supplier (that sounds so much more official than it actually is) based on what is on sale. Michael's happened to have the better deals on large (I think they were 18x20-inch canvas packs), as well as a coupon for the Helvetica packs that I used for the lettering. I think I bought the paint there, too.

The project was initially supposed to be a secret but, as most people who know and Christopher and I well, we don't do particularly well with secrets. We maybe keep them for two days. Then it's all over. The main reason this project didn't stay a secret was because I wanted something that would be meaningful for Chris and I wanted his input. We finally (after much debate) settled on short bits of one of the verses from "Be Thou My Vision," which is one of Christopher's favorite hymns (if not his favorite).

And, since the process takes a while, we're still trying to figure out what to put on the other set, which is why they haven't been put together yet...

Regardless, I liked how the panels turned out, particularly because I took the time to draw the necessary grids and to space letters for each panel, knowing that I am not capable of making anything straight on my own. We decided to keep this set (for our bedroom) really simple, only doing one color per panel. Some colors needed more coats of paint than others (particularly the deep red), but I just kept at it - I did laundry and cleaned the house bit by bit between coats. The paint did bleed in a bit (like the one from A Beautiful Mess), but from any distance it's not too bad. It adds a bit of texture and gives the Helvetica a bit of a distressed look, which is kind of cool (in my opinion).

Anyway, it was a fun, simple way to do wall art. I'm looking forward to completing some more in the coming year and continuing to make our home both beautiful and meaningful.

Stash-busting III - Lovely Cowl

So, I want to preface this stash-busting post by letting you know that I totally failed in following this pattern so that the product was as it should be. I realized more than halfway through that I missed something in the instructions that affected the pattern, but I kept going and I still like the results.

Here's the pattern, from Patons. I think you have to create an account to actually log in and see it. But they have a great pattern library online, so it might be worthwhile to sign up just because of that.

I also didn't use Patons yarn, since I didn't have any in my stash. What did I use, you might ask? Baby yarn. Because it's super-soft and it was pretty.

Yarn: Baby Bee, Sweet Delight Baby (60% Acrylic, 40 % Polyamide)
Color: Iris Dreams

Really simple cowl. Essentially, I alternated rows of dtr and sc stitches. You're supposed to alternate one row dtr and three rows sc, but I missed the repeat. At the end, when everything gets joined together, I improvised rather than following the pattern and chained 5 for the dtr rows and single-chained into the sc rows because I didn't want just a line of single chain.

Regardless, here's the result:

It's a Christmas present, so I'm not naming who I made it for. You'll just have to deal. And I'm debating making a second one, since I have more yarn... though I'll try to do it correctly this time.

Stash-busting II - The BFS

One of the first holiday projects I began was this front door stocking that I found at the Caron web site. I used the size of hook that was recommended and a bunch of leftover red yarn balls (if you look really closely, you can tell that they weren't all the same color, but in the dim light of our living room at any time of day, you can't tell at all). The pattern says that the gauge doesn't matter, but let me tell you something:

The gauge does matter.

That's why I've labeled this the "Big Freaking Stocking." Honestly, that's what I call it at home. I look at it and think, "Man, that is a big freaking stocking."

It's supposed to be about 11" wide overall, but mine is at least 13" (which equates to about 5 extra circular inches). It wasn't a terribly intensive project, because it made up pretty quickly and it's worked in continuous rounds so there's not a bunch of time wasted in the turning, but it is certainly big.

It's pretty great, in spite of its size. I decided to not do the buttons that are part of the pattern, but just leave the lacy cuff as-is instead. It's one of those classic decorations, and I can always look back and laugh at how I didn't think it would be so big in the end.

Here it is:

Stash-busting I

It has certainly been a while since I last posted, well, anything. Our no-media November was a great stretch to refresh our hearts in what matters, to read, to work on projects, and to simply get things done.

December, thus far, has been an odd mixture of both, mostly because this season is busy! And, for me, December often means that I'm trying to finish up as many half-finished projects has humanly possible before Christmas arrives.

This year, I decided I needed to bust my stash.

Hopefully, this will need little explanation. Most of us have a stash. It's that section of storage that is made up of leftover and inherited craft supplies that you keep, but for which you have never found a use.

Well, I decided mine was overgrown and needed to be trimmed down, so I took a strategic aim at Christmas gifts in particular (but, you know, projects in general) trying to find items that could be made with stuff I already had.

My yarn collection is receiving the brunt of the fall cleanup, while I'm thinking my fabric stash will receive the brunt of the spring/summer cleanup.

See, this was my yarn collection before I began sifting through it:

I scoured a bunch of sites for free crochet patterns to see what my options were, and I was pretty amazed at what I found: Everything from stuffed animals to home decor to practical things like dishrags and mop covers, and scarves, hats and clothing. I printed off my favorites, set all my yarn out on a clean couch (I know, right? It's been a while since that last happened) and started matching project printouts to yarn I already had.

Great sites with free project patterns:
caron.com
favecrafts.com
michaels.com
redheart.com

Over the next few weeks, I hope to bring you glimpses of what I've done with my stash (though some projects are, naturally, still unfinished). The first major project I undertook was the gingham blanket I finished earlier this fall, which was done completely with stash yarn. But there's a lot more to come...

Weekend Workroom: Finishing

This weekend was about finishing things.

For one, the inside of our front door has long looked like this:

Not very attractive, to be sure, but it at least got sanded somewhere along the way, which means it's been leagues ahead of the outside of the door (or the house for that matter - if you visit, you'll understand how our house is not-so-pretty from the outside).

While Chris and his dad worked on outside stuff, getting the yard ready for winter (and for our dogs not to have mud to roll around in!), I decided I was going to tackle some painting projects that have long sat unfinished. I'm still mid-project on a few of them, but it was nice to finally get somewhere... A few hours and two coats of paint later, our front door now looks like this:

It's really pretty. I rehung my wreath there tonight. It just seemed right.

Anyway, after that, we went to our semi-annual teens-run-around-in-the-dark-with-noodles youth ministry night last night and I tackled the last round and a half of the border on the blanket I've been working on since this spring (see here and here for beginnings and mid-point). I got to the last 20 stitches and I ran out of yarn in my skein. So, I finished it after I went home. And it's awesome. Definitely one of my favorite projects. Consequently, I'm back to work on Christopher's blanket now. Some pictures of the finished product:

It was nice to finish some things for a change. Off for another busy week!

Weekend Workroom: Fall Color

I've been looking for inexpensive ways to decorate our home for the seasons, particularly fall, whose color palette I really enjoy... so I'd been shopping around and finding a ton of things that I liked that came at a pretty steep cost (can't really afford a $40 wreath, you know?).

Regardless, I came across a few tutorials for time-light, investment-light (I spent about $10 total on felt, fabric, and yarn) projects, made a run to the craft store last Monday while waiting for our vehicle to get an oil change, and invested my afternoon in making my home a little more colorful. Here's what I came up with:

Tricks + Treats: Autumn Fabric Wreath by Elise Blaha
I purchased $5 worth of fabric quarters (they were on sale for $1.25/ea. at Joann's) in 4 colors and spent a bit of my afternoon cutting (and tearing, because ripping fabric is quite a bit of fun) the quarters into 1x7-inch strips. I just followed the tutorial and tied them one at a time, right next to each other (in a repeating order because I don't do "random" so well).

Fall Leaves Garland DIY
This was one of the easiest projects I've done in a while, though it did require a bit of prep work. I made a few of these and gave them away as birthday presents to some friends (I kept one for myself, don't worry!). I grabbed a bunch of fall-colored felt at Hobby Lobby (reds, yellows, oranges, greens, browns) and some craft yarn. The leaves I just cut out free-form, some multiple sheets at a time. I used about 40 leaves per garland because they were 2-3 inches in length and that was what I was going for in length. Mixed them all together in a paper bag and pulled them out at random (though I did have rules for how close leaves of the same color could be). You can make them however long, but it does get tiring after a while of continuing to push the ones at the bottom further down the yarn. Tied each off at the end.

My house looks a little more festive for the season, and I'm pretty excited about it all. I like the fall. The leaves are turning and the air is much cooler than it was over the summer.

And, to beat it all, I didn't spend $40 on a wreath.

Weekend Workroom: Gingham Update

Okay, so remember this blanket I started on back in March? Well, I didn't get very far on it before I went back to work and it became too warm to work on a blanket...

Which is one thing that is awesome about the fact that it is finally cooling off around here and acting like autumn (because, as it turns out, it is now autumn)! The last few days, I've been picking it up and working on it while Chris and I have done sick-people lounging (I think I have a sinus infection, but I don't really know if I have one, I suppose).

Regardless, the result is that it keeps on growing... The body of the whole thing is 55 rows, and I'm nearing the 35th of those rows. It's such a small blanket, but I guess that makes sense because it's meant to be for a small person (I make these connections, sometimes!). It's turning out to be a great little blanket, one of my favorite projects for sure, though it really does have a wrong side, as I mentioned in my initial post. Orderly strings and tie-offs everywhere. See?

Next, I'm hoping to make some headway on my thesis and make myself a skirt or two because I bought fabric for that purpose when I spent time with my mom a few weeks back. I've been wanting to learn how to make clothing for a long time, so I'm pretty excited to get started on that...

Weekend Workroom: Easter

Easter is our holiday. Normally, we are divided between families for almost every other occasion (Christmas here, Thanksgiving there), but everyone comes to us to celebrate Easter. It's a great thing that we look forward to every year.

Last year, due to the smallness of our apartment and the chaos of the new house and dealing with Christopher's knee being as it was, we weren't able to host Easter, and we missed it.

And that is why we insisted on Easter with us again this year. In our new home that needs holiday memories, especially the important holidays - like Easter.

We cooked a load of food (Chris smoked brisket in the smoker he got for Christmas; we skewered way too many shrimp and veggie kabobs for the grills; we made a big bowl of potato salad; and I made fresh strawberry ice cream and chocolate chip banana bread for dessert). We're still eating the leftovers.

But since it was our first holiday with family in this house, I wanted to do something special for those who came, so I made Easter baskets, and they were pretty cool if I have anything to say about it...

I found really cheap treat bags at the craft store and a small pad of matting paper on clearance, and put them together to make these really neat and colorful little bags. And then I bought a lot of stuff from the bulk food section at Sprouts (gummi bears, chocolate-covered pretzels and almonds, some trail mix, and jelly beans) and filled the bags with those things.  I pulled the tops shut by punching two sets of holes and stringing ribbon through for a simple tied finish.

Then I baked a double batch of the chocolate chip banana bread I posted about a few weeks ago ("Weekend Workroom: Parts of the 'Buffalo'"), using small disposable tins rather than my bigger loaf pans (though I used the leftover batter for a bigger loaf that did go in a loaf pan). We even gave a few of the small loaves away to other friends and our new neighbors, so it was actually a pretty great thing in reminding myself that I love doing small things for other people.

I got some really inexpensive baskets from the craft store and just tied some ribbon around the handles (the baskets were 40% off last week, which is always awesome). Then I filled the baskets with goodies, which proved a bit more difficult than I wanted it to be, but I eventually wrestled everything into them.

It was a really great way to do Easter in a grown-up way, and I really enjoyed being creative and thinking outside of the "egg," so to speak. We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon with our families, and are really looking forward to continuing our tradition in the coming years.

Weekend Workroom: Gingham

In light of the chaos of the weekend and our impending departure for Christopher's spring break, this post is fairly short - particularly on pictures. Sorry. I'll try to do better next time.

***

So, I definitely ran out of yarn. Or, at the least, I ran out of the variegated yarn for Christopher's blanket, which he was upset over because it means progress on his blanket stops until we're able to buy a skein or two sometime next month. It means I have four rows left before progress halts entirely, since I still have some of the solid color yarn to continue on with for four more rows.

But I decided to switch gears a bit, try something new. The result is that I pulled out my crochet books and hunted for projects, and I thought I'd give this one pattern from Crocheted Afghans: 25 Throws, Wraps, and Blankets to Crochet by Melody Griffiths a try: It's a gingham baby blanket. Since I was the recipient of a ton of yarn last week, I sifted through it and discovered that I had both a dark purple and a light purple, with an awesome clean white.

And who doesn't love a gingham pattern? It's classic. You can't hate on a classic.

The one thing I chose to overlook was the fact that all three yarns are very different weights. It makes the construction a bit difficult at times, but helps create this incredible texture. The pattern is fun, and since it changes colors every three stitches (dc stitches), it's really hard to put down - there's just always another set to start in on and complete!

It's so strange, though, because there is definitely a right side and a wrong side to this pattern. The back is, well, a bit crazy.

Baby blankets are great opportunities to try out new stitches and patterns because they don't take terribly long to complete. You don't have to have a baby or expecting one of your own in order to make a baby blanket. If you have the yarn and the time, make the blanket I say - and then you'll be ready with awesome gifts when babies come. Or whatever. I might make one in every color of the rainbow - the whole process of this particular pattern is just that enrapturing to me...

And I am quite a bit further in the process than the five rows pictured here - I just don't have the time needed to get updated pictures of the current status. It's coming along nicely and fairly quickly, both which are pretty cool things. I'm hoping to add quite a bit of length while on vacation and will show some pictures when I get back.

Speaking of that whole vacation thing... I may or may not post this week, dependent on my relaxation level and our Internet access through the week. Don't hate. I'll post again soon.

Weekend Workroom: Parts of the 'Buffalo'

I have finally Gerry-rigged a way around not having the proper camera cord for the new/old camera that we have... until we find a cord that works, we're just going to off-load the memory cards into the old camera, which doesn't take pictures anymore but works wonderfully as a memory card reader since it still turns on and we have its correct cord. Complicated? Nah. We don't do complicated around here.

What we do is try to conserve and be resourceful. It's no secret to most of our family and good friends that finances have been tight as we continue to seek paying off the unexpected debt accumulated over the last year. This becomes even more tricky when, say, I'm still not in a permanent work situation and we do something like coming to the end of the life of the tires on the car that Chris drives to work everyday.

The result is that I've been trying to plan a little better, making use of each and every little piece of what we have in the house to eat. A week and a half ago, I sat down and planned our meals for the rest of the month and then went shopping - freezing a lot and trying to use produce that will go bad the fastest first.

This has led to some interesting resourcefulness on my part. I normally forget that I can make things out of what is left over... Perhaps it is just a weird flaw when it comes to food, because I seem perfectly able to remember how to make use of every bit of the proverbial buffalo when it comes to crafting and making things work around the house.

First, I have been trying to remind myself that I can freeze things that I make with leftover parts. I did this with a bunch of Roma/plum tomatoes (they were on sale, so I bought a few pounds more than I needed for our meals). I can't eat canned soups (of any brand, it's kind of sad), but I love soup. So, I set out to make my own tomato soup and froze it.

I used this recipe:
http://www.aerogardenblog.com/2011/10/easy-tomato-basil-soup/

I added a blanched red bell pepper to the mixture and didn't use quite as much basil, since my basil crop is being overshadowed (literally) by the overgrowth of cilantro in my garden. I made use of leftover cans of vegetable broth that I had purchased for a meal months ago that turned into something else.

The big thing here is that I used fresh tomatoes rather than canned. You can use canned tomatoes. I have plenty of cans in my pantry. Fresh ones were on sale, however, and I wanted to see how to use fresh ones to make a decent soup that I can eat without getting sick off of it.

I had to boil the tomatoes, however, to do this. It is an extra step. Worth it, if you ask me, but I guess that's really up to you. About $1.10 per serving, which is easily comparable to a can of Progresso or Campbell's Harvest Select or whatever - and much tastier, in my opinion.

To boil tomatoes:
Fill a pot with water, and set it on the stove top to boil. When the water boils, drop in tomatoes until you notice the tomato skins start to split (the tomatoes will also float to the top when this happens). My instructions told me 30-60 seconds, but it took quite a bit longer than that. This step is simply to make it easy to peel off the tomato skins. After the skins split, remove the tomatoes from the pot and place them in an ice bath to slow the cooking process, since the cooking will actually happen when you make the soup. After peeling them, I diced the 3 lbs of tomatoes that I used and continued with the rest of the recipe.

Made 2 quarts of soup. I put them in my Ball freezer containers (these are amazing), and put them in my freezer. Perfectly easy meals.

We came home from my parents' house last weekend with a bunch of risotto that my mom and I made for dinner one night using this recipe from the Great Easy Meals cookbook (I think I reference that thing more than any other cookbook I have ever used - it's fantastic): http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/fontina-risotto-with-chicken-recipe/index.html

But rather than eat the risotto as it was, we turned to the next page and made risotto cakes out of the stuff following this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/risotto-cakes-with-mixed-greens-recipe/index.html

Granted, we didn't do more than dredge them in panko and fry them up in oil because we didn't have any of the other ingredients on hand... but they were incredible. Not as good on the reheat, but definitely worthwhile the first time around. If you're having a party, it would be great to make the risotto ahead of time (it makes a ton), dredge and refrigerate the patties, and then pull them out and fry them right before your event... totally would be an awesome party food.

There was also a great deal on whole pineapples (97 cents apiece!), so I bought two at Christopher's request, and we mixed one of them with strawberries, bananas, and yogurt to make smoothies this last week. We had things leftover, however, including 5 bananas and a whole pineapple.

So, I made some amazing chocolate chip banana bread using a recipe book that some friends gave us for our wedding. I had everything on hand except a full bag of chocolate chips, but considering I was able to make three loaves off of a doubled recipe, I was willing to grab a bag of chocolate chips from the store the last time I was there. No pictures of the bread, but I will give you the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (c/o the Fenwicks)
1/2 c. melted butter
1 c. sugar
2 unbeaten eggs
1 c. mashed bananas (about 2.5)
1/3 c. milk
1 t. lemon juice
2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. sliced almonds (optional)
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Add sugar to melted butter gradually and blend together well. Blend in unbeaten eggs and bananas. Add milk and lemon juice and fold in nuts. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to sugar mixture and blend until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Turn into a well-greased and floured loaf pan. Sprinkle with more almonds. Bake at 350 for 60-70 minutes (ours took 5-10 minutes longer), or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool before slicing. NOTE: Can be made into muffins also - bake for 25 minutes in lined cups.

Those who know me know that I love making my own ice cream. Part of it's because I know exactly what's in it (which is a good thing these days), but part of it's because I can make exactly the flavors that I want. I used the extra pineapple to make 1.5 quarts of sorbet using this recipe that I found through Pinterest: http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/pineapple-sorbet/. Very tasty.

I'm not sure what I think about Pinterest just yet, as I've barely dabbled, but it is an interesting resource when it comes to looking for ideas from other people's blogs. It might prove a great asset to trying to use all the 'buffalo' parts.

After I finish the next few rows of Christopher's blanket (the chevron I started here), I might need to stop for a while until I'm able to get more yarn out of the 'buffalo.' It is coming along quite well, don't you think? It has an awesome texture to it, and is finally at the point where it keeps me warm while I'm working on its rows. While waiting to get some new yarn, however, I'm likely start a new project using yarn that I was given when the awesome woman I work for decided she was going to give away a bunch of yarn while spring cleaning. Haven't decided what kind of pattern I want to do, but I'll be looking into that over the next few weeks.

Regardless, I've been up to a lot of cooking and baking. I keep thinking that those don't qualify as weekend projects, but that's what I've been doing on my weekends! I'm hoping to get to my stack of creativity projects soon (maybe one this week, now that I know the camera works well enough to document the process), so keep your eyes out for that... Sick of the 'buffalo' analogy yet?

Weekend Workroom: Learning the Chevron

So... this is why I haven't attempted regular features in the past: Life happens. In this case, life being the fact that our computer is currently not opening applications correctly. Therefore, I am currently re-installing applications and attempting a large-scale cleanup.

And that is why this post was delayed because, even though I took pictures and had things ready to go on Friday (go me!), I couldn't access Photoshop on our computer and I don't substitute with iPhoto, so... At long last, here we go.

As I mentioned in my post-Christmas post, I received some great books on crochet stitches for Christmas and was eager to get to work learning new ones. I've taken up a similar approach to what I do with new recipes - I mark when I actually conquered them (a simple date) under the name of the stitch itself. I've learned a few new things (and have kind of taught myself how to crochet properly - or at least the terminology that allows me to follow patterns, since I figured it out on my own many years ago).

One of these things has been the wonder of the chevron. There are a lot of chevron patterns to be had, certainly, and the book I'm using, Basic Crochet Stitches by Erika Knight (Interweave Press), has no shortage of them. I was drawn to the "Close Chevron Stitch" because it was a tighter and shorter pattern (and I'm not so great at counting my opening stitches, so shorter = easier to keep track of at first), plus it has an extra bit of gathered texture due to the tightness of the chevrons.

I decided to start a blanket for Chris, since I haven't made him one before. It might end up being a birthday present or an anniversary present because it'll take me a while to finish, but it was neat to go to the store with him and watch him pick out what he thought would go well together.

He settled on three yarns: A bronze-colored tan, a mossy green, and a variegated yarn with both colors, plus some dusty blues and a hint of aqua thrown in the mix. I've been alternating colors/yarns in sets of four rows, with the variegated between each solid color block. While the yarn's weight and size was meant to be used with an I hook, I used a J hook because I don't have an I hook. It essentially just makes the stitches a tiny bit bigger.

The one piece that is kind of distracting is that, at the beginning, I wasn't quite sure how to compensate for the extra stitches I kept running into at the end of my rows, so the first few rows are a bit longer than the rest of the blanket (if you come over once it's done, don't judge me). I'm not the type of crafter who is willing to put the work in again (it's like a half an hour for each row, people!), so I left it as it was. It's not highly noticeable. The book just says something like, "Repeat row 2," which isn't quite accurate, since rows 1 and 2 need to be handled just different enough at the ends.

Essentially, just take it as a reminder that practicing a new stitch for several rows on a smaller scale is good - that way, you can work out the kinks and not end up with them on your bigger piece of work.

In other news, our fabric store in town moved to its new location at the end of last week, which resulted in a severe markdown on many things (90% sometimes) that I've been looking at and hoping for a great markdown on in recent months. I think I spent somewhere in the ballpark of $14 total, but I wound up with a ton of great things for future projects.

Hydrangea stems (hello!), which I've been looking at for many, many months, were marked down to ~80 cents apiece. Compared to the $6-8/stem price tag they typically sport, I was more than eager to take them off the store's hands, and incorporate them as a new addition to our living room. I also got a pair of bamboo bag handles for about the same price (see below, with fabric remnants).

The big score, however, was that Simplicity patterns were on sale for $1.99 apiece. Seriously? I love making things, and often end up doing so from scratch or from free Internet patterns since the store-bought patterns usually run in the $12-18 range. So, I stocked up for future projects, and I'm seriously stoked to do something I've been wanting to learn for a while: How to make clothes!

First, however, I have a few things that are also on my to-do list: Continue the chevron blanket (naturally), a new purse for myself that is work-appropriate (using fabric remnants above, which I found in the bin at Walmart when I bought squid material), a Bible-cover how-to (per Laura's request), designing a new cross-stitch project (apparently my memory of what happened before Christmas has rubbed off a bit), and I'd really like to make some more earring sets because I still have a lot of beads floating around... Stay tuned.

Weekend Workroom: Squids!

If you haven't picked up on it yet, don't worry: It's new. I'm trying to incorporate regular features into my blog every week.

You know, the whole "being intentional thing."

One of those regular features is going to be a weekly peek in at some of the things I've been making at home for purposes of all sorts, including recipes, craft and sewing projects, home projects that don't quite qualify as "remodeling" (see http://mercuryreno.blogspot.com for that), and who knows what. Making things with my hands continues to be a substantial part of my life, so I'll be sharing that with anyone who wants to stop by regularly...

Anyway, this week was kind of strange one. SALT (youth group student council) concocted this crazy game that mixed perhaps five different games (dodgeball, basketball/soccer, line tag, the whole snitch concept from Harry Potter, and maybe one other? Regardless, it was chaos). The main thing, however, was that at some point during that meeting I mentioned squids? And then proceeded to think on how we could actually have squids.

Which is when I started looking at squid projects online. Amazing, really, that when you type "free squid hat pattern" into Google, you get more hits than you probably should. People love their cephalopods (squids, octopi, and the like).

I landed on this particular pattern:
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Squid-Hat/

It seemed easy enough, so I went to Walmart and bought the cheapest fleece I could find that seemed to be a squid color (I chose light blue). Some of it was in the remnant bin. With about a yard and a half of fleece (I think it was 60-in width), I managed to make four hats and have some left over. I picked up some flat-faced, shiny round buttons and some coordinating thread. Cost: $4 for fabric + $2 for thread + $1.50 for buttons = ~$7.50 total.

Everything was pretty straightforward, though the hats came out a bit smaller than they were supposed to be. I didn't realize until a few pages deep in the pattern that the grey border around the pattern pieces was supposed to be the seam allowance. The trickiest part was getting the machine to go over the thicker parts of the hat while sewing on the brim and fin pieces. Other than that, smooth sailing.

I didn't have a chance to put together the smaller tentacles as I had hoped, due to the fact I ran out of time before youth group, but they still look like squids to me, and I figure that's really the level of success I was going for anyhow.